SCYL4 AQA Social reactions to crime and deviance

Social Reactions to C&D/ Crime and Deviance/A2 SOCIOLOGY 4a What are the Social Reactions to Crime and Deviance?Interactionists believe the social reaction to crime and deviance to be acentral element in the study of criminology.For example the social reaction to the introduction of the poll tax, led toserious conflicts between protesters and the police and ultimately led to it'sscrapping and the demise of Mrs Thatcher.In a different case, it can be argued the reaction of the public to the abductionand murder of Sarah Payne, led to the introduction of the sex offender'sregister.Sociologists are keen to theorise the causes of social reactions and manyattribute a close connection between the extent and nature of media coverageof particular criminal or deviant acts and the social reaction to them. Theyargue that most people's perceptions of crime are actually created, or at leastinformed by, the mediaCrime, Labelling and the MediaWhat labelling theory alerts us to is the way in which the whole area of crimeis dependent upon social constructions of reality, law creation, lawenforcement and the identities of rule breakers are all thrown into question.A key element of all three of these processes is composed by the media.Labelling theory has contributed two particularly important concepts to ourunderstanding of the relationship between the media and crime. Deviancy amplification Moral panicsDeviancy amplificationA number of sociologists who do not share the same theoretical perspectiveas the interactionists have also focused on societal reaction. For example astudy on the societal reaction to mods and rockers in the mid-1960s.Mods and rockersMods and rockers are youth groups who differed from each other in terms ofdress, musical tastes and modes of transport (mods rode scooters, rockersrode motor bikes). Stanley Cohen's (1987) study looked at societal reaction todisturbances involving mods and rockers, which took place in Clacton overthe Easter bank holiday in 1964.The mass media represented these disturbances as a confrontation betweenrival gangs 'hell bent on destruction'. On inspection, however, Cohendiscovered that the amount of serious violence and vandalism was not greatand that most young people who'd gone to the seaside that weekend did notidentify with either the mods or the rockers. The mass media had produced adistorted picture of what went on.Deviancy amplification spiral, Media coverage led to considerable publicconcern with mods and rockers. And this set in motion a deviancy amplificationspiral. Sensitised to the 'problem', the police made more arrests, the media1

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Social Reactions to C&D/ Crime and Deviance/A2 SOCIOLOGYreported more deviance, and young people were more likely to identify witheither mods or rockers. Further disturbances followed on subsequent bankholidays, attracting more police attention, more arrests, increased mediainterest and more young people reacting to what they saw as heavy-handedand unjustified treatment from the police.The reaction to the initial disturbances over the Easter bank holiday notonly exaggerated the amount of deviance; it also generated more deviance.…read more

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Social Reactions to C&D/ Crime and Deviance/A2 SOCIOLOGYcontested". They also suggest that pressure groups and institutions such asthe police who aim to generate moral panics for their own ends are lesssuccessful now in convincing media editors to launch them. The media theysay will no longer uncritically and reflexively. Finally they argue that fewerindividuals and groups are keen to stimulate moral panics because of thethreat of rebound.…read more